Plextor

Plextor is possibly one of the few
manufacturers that will support the 12x DVD+R recording speed, with the upcoming
PX-712A. The company will launch the drive by May, targeting the market
share before the first 16x DVD+R burners become available. The PX-712A uses
Sanyo's chipset. It supports 12x P-CAV write for DVD+R (with potential
for 16x CAV in the next model), 8x DVD-R, 4x DVD±RW and 48x24x48x
for CD-RW. The Burn Proof Buffer Underun protection combined with an 8MB
cache ensure the recording stability with CD/DVD.

The already introduced GigaRec,
SecuRec and Silent Mode features are also supported through the
updated PlexTools Professional v2.12. New here is the
updated Q-Check feature. Beta/Jitter measurements as well as PI and PO error
rates
for DVD media are currently available through PlexTools. As in the case
of the previous version of the software, users will be able to enjoy these
features only with the PX-712A drive used as a media reader.

Plextor will also release some 8x DVD+R media (Taiyo Yuden) that will be
used for recording at 12x. The 12x speed can be achieved more easily in hardware
than
the 16x, while 8x media can in most cases be used for 12x writing, as long
as the writing strategy and the media combination are appropriate. We might
see
some problems
with some 8x DVD+R brands, but firmware upgrades are in the pipeline for supporting
more media IDs.

The drive will be
available with white and black bezels.

In addition, the PX-712A will be available with a serial-ATA interface. Codenamed
PX-712SA, it offers exactly the same features as the IDE model, and its price
is expected to be slightly higher.

Below you can find a preview of the new PlexTools Proffessional v2.12 bundled
in the PX-721A retail package. The P-CAV writing strategy is clearly indicated
with the red line on the graph (write simulation):